ABC to shift focus away from older audience as part of programming review

Matthew Knott Federal Politics

The ABC will examine cutting back on television and radio programs aimed at older audiences as part of a major review of the public broadcaster's programming.

ABC staff are also bracing for heavy job losses this year as part of a seismic restructure of the broadcaster's operations.

Hundreds of jobs could go in the overhaul, which is being driven by government funding cuts and recognition that the ABC's ''analogue'' structures have become outdated.

The broadcaster's managing director, Mark Scott, said in a speech on Friday the ABC would ''robustly review its programming and services'' to ensure the broadcaster remains relevant to modern audiences.

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''We will make the investment necessary to deliver quality programming, but it will be prudent and we will need to make careful judgments about the audience return,'' he said.

Fairfax Media understands that boosting engagement with the 20 to 50-year-old demographic will be one of the priorities of the programming review.

There has long been concern within the ABC - which airs popular programs such as Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Antiques Master - that its audience skew is too old.

Research by Fusion Strategy released last year showed that with a median age of 61, the ABC has the oldest audience of the major television networks, ahead of SBS (57), Channel Seven (49), Nine (45) and Ten (41).

Mr Scott said in his speech the

ABC would be ''targeting new spending in online and mobile, where the audience growth is''.

''We will need to increase our investment to match that audience shift,'' he said.

The federal government is expected to announce deep cuts to the ABC's budget after an efficiency review into its operations identified about $60 million worth of continuing savings.

The government has described the $35.5 million in cuts handed down in the May budget as a ''down payment'' on the efficiency review.

While the ABC would never abandon older viewers, there is recognition that, with funding being cut, resources may need to be shifted away from ''legacy'' programming to investment in digital.

In a question-and-answer email to staff last week, ABC management flagged heavy job losses at the broadcaster this year.

''For the ABC to build a sustainable future, it must modernise and change,'' staff were told. ''The challenges we confront mean this necessarily goes beyond a narrow backroom cost-cutting exercise.

''This potentially means changes across the board.

''Regrettably, this is likely to mean job losses on top of [the 80 job losses] already announced as part of the restructure of ABC International.''

Staff were told a formal restructure proposal had not yet been approved, and that the number of job losses would be influenced by the size of any budget cuts from Canberra.

Mr Scott is expected to dismantle the ABC's traditional television and radio divisions and create a platform-neutral structure based around genre (such as drama, comedy and children's content).

Information technology, human resources and other roles are expected to be outsourced to the private sector.